1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compressor and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for controlling an operation of a reciprocating compressor which are capable of reducing power consumption of a reciprocating compressor and improving reliability of linear controlling.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a reciprocating compressor is operated to suck, compress and discharge a refrigerant gas by reciprocally and linearly moving a piston in a cylinder provided therein.
The reciprocating compressor is divided into a compressor using a recipro method and a compressor using a linear method according to how the piston is driven.
In the compressor using the recipro method, a crank shaft is coupled with a rotary motor and the piston is coupled with the crank shaft, to thus change a rotating force of the rotary motor to a reciprocating motion.
In the compressor using the linear method, the piston connected with an actuator of a linear motor is linearly moved.
The reciprocating compressor using the linear method does not have such a crank shaft for changing the rotational motion into the linear motion, causing no frictional loss by the crank shaft, so it has high compression efficiency compared with a general compressor.
The reciprocating compressor can be employed for a refrigerator or an air-conditioner to control cooling capacity of the refrigerator or the air-conditioner by varying a compression ratio of the reciprocating compressor which can be varied by changing voltage inputted to the motor of the reciprocating compressor.
Thus, when the reciprocating compressor is employed for the refrigerator or the air-conditioner, the cooling capacity can be controlled by varying the compression ratio of the reciprocating compressor by varying a stroke voltage inputted to the reciprocating compressor. Herein, the stroke refers to a distance between a top dead center and a bottom dead center of the piston.
The reciprocating compressor according to the related art will now be described with reference to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing the construction of an apparatus for controlling an operation of the reciprocating compressor according to the related art.
As shown in FIG. 1, the related art apparatus for controlling an operation of the reciprocating compressor includes: a current detection unit 4 for detecting current applied to a motor (not shown) of a reciprocating compressor 6; a voltage detection unit 3 for detecting voltage applied to the motor; a stroke calculation unit 5 for calculating a stroke estimate value of the reciprocating compressor 6 based on the detected current and voltage values and a parameter of the motor; a comparing unit 1 for comparing the calculated stroke estimate value with a pre-set stroke reference value and outputting a difference value according to the comparison result; and a stroke control unit 2 for controlling an operation (stroke) of the compressor 6 by varying the voltage applied to the motor by controlling a turn-on period of a triac (not shown) connected in series to the motor according to the difference value.
The operation of the apparatus for controlling an operation of the reciprocating compressor will now be described with reference to FIG. 1.
First, the current detect unit 4 detects current applied to the motor (not shown) of the compressor 6 and outputs the detected current value to the stroke calculation unit 5.
At this time, the voltage detection unit 3 detects the voltage applied to the motor and outputs the detected voltage value to the stroke calculation unit 5.
The stroke calculation unit 5 calculates a stroke estimate value (X) of the compressor by substituting the detected current and voltage values and the parameter of the motor to equation (1) shown below and applies the calculated stroke estimate value (X) to the comparing unit 1:
                    X        =                              1            α                    ⁢                      ∫                                          (                                                      V                    M                                    -                  Ri                  -                                      L                    ⁢                                          i                      _                                                                      )                            ⁢                              ⅆ                t                                                                        (        1        )            wherein ‘R’ is a motor resistance value, ‘L’ is a motor inductance value, α is a motor constant, VM is a voltage value applied to the motor, ‘i’ is a current value applied to the motor, and 1 is a time change rate of the current applied to the motor. Namely, 1 is a differential value (di/dt) of ‘i’.
Thereafter, the comparing unit 1 compares the stroke estimate value and the stroke reference value and applies a difference value according to the comparison result to the stroke control unit 2.
The stroke control unit 2 controls stroke of the compressor 6 by varying the voltage applied to the motor of the compressor 6 based on the difference value.
This operation will now be described with reference to FIG. 2.
FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the processes of a method for controlling an operation of the reciprocating compressor according to the related art.
First, when the stroke estimate value is applied to the comparing unit 1 by the stroke calculation unit 5 (S1), the comparing unit 1 compares the stroke estimate value and the pre-set stroke reference value (S2) and outputs the difference value according to the comparison result to the stroke control unit 2.
When the stroke estimate value is smaller than the stroke reference value, the stroke control unit 2 increases the voltage applied to the motor to control the stroke of the reciprocating compressor (S3), and when the stroke estimate value is greater than the stroke reference value, the stroke control unit 2 reduces the voltage applied to the motor (S4).
When the voltage applied to the motor is increased or reduced, the triac (not shown) electrically connected with the motor controls the turn-on period and applies the voltage to the motor.
The stroke reference value differs depending on a size of a load of the reciprocating compressor. Namely, when the load is large, the stroke reference value is increased not to reduce the stroke of the piston to thus prevent degradation of cooling capacity. Conversely, when the load is small, the stroke reference value is reduced not to increase the stroke of the piston and thus prevent an increase of the cooling capacity and generation of collision of the piston and the cylinder due to an excessive stroke (over-stroke).
The related art apparatus for controlling the operation of the reciprocating compressor estimates the stroke by using a motor parameter (α), resistance (R) and reactance (L), and controls the stroke by using the stroke estimate value.
However, in estimating the stroke, an error is generated due to the motor parameter and a component deviation, making it difficult to precisely control the stroke, which causes a problem that the piston of the reciprocating compressor cannot be precisely controlled to be positioned corresponding to a point TDC (Top Dead Center)=0, an optimum operation condition.